tudy of every
government the divergences of theory and fact must
be borne constantly in mind, but nowhere are these
divergences so numerous, so far-reaching, or so
fundamental as in the government of the United
Kingdom.]

The assertions that have been made represent with substantial accuracy
the ultimate theory of the status of the crown in the governmental
system. In respect to the form and fact of that system as it actually
operates, however, it would hardly be possible to make assertions that
would convey a more erroneous impression. The breadth of the
discrepancy that here subsists between theory and fact will be made
apparent as examination proceeds of the organization and workings of
the executive, the legislative, and the judicial departments of the
government of the realm. It is necessary first of all, however, to
give attention to certain of the more external aspects of the position
which the monarch occupies.

*49. Title to the Throne: the Act of Settlement, 1701.*--Since (p. 049)
the Revolution of 1688 title to the English throne has been based
solely upon the will of the nation as expressed in parliamentary
enactment. The statute under which the succession is regulated is the
Act of Settlement, passed by the Tory parliament of 1701, by which it
was provided that, in default of heirs of William III. and Anne, the
crown and all prerogatives thereto appertaining should "be, remain,
and continue to the most Excellent Princess Sophia, and the heirs of
her body, being Protestants."[60] Sophia, a granddaughter of James I.,
was the widow of the Elector of Hanover, and although in 1701 she was
not first in the natural order of succession she was first among the
surviving heirs who were Protestants. It was by virtue of the act
mentioned that, upon the death of Anne in 1714, the throne devolved
upon the son of the German Electress (George I.). The present
sovereign, George V., is the eighth of the Hanoverian dynasty.
Although it would be entirely within the competence of Parliament to
repeal the Act of Settlement and to vest the crown in a member of some
house other than the Hanoverian, there is, of course, no occasion for
such an act, and the throne may be expected to continue to pass from
one member of the present royal family to another in strict accordance
with the principles of heredity and primogeniture. The rules